


Good Answer

by ShevatheGun



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Superman - All Media Types, Superman: The Animated Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Established Relationship, F/F, Female!Clark Kent - Freeform, Female!Lex Luthor, Fluff, Genderbending, Racebending, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4309374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShevatheGun/pseuds/ShevatheGun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hello?” she murmurs, but her voice has gone out, and her mouth is mostly full of drool and pillow. She clears her throat forcefully. “Hello?” she repeats.</p><p>“Marry me,” Lex says, in that slightly raspy voice she has right after she wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Answer

**Author's Note:**

> Genderswapped DCAU to celebrate the legalization of marriage equality in the US.

Clara’s been in costume for a full 56 hours dealing with the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Kasnia when she finally lands on the roof of her apartment building. She stumbles, half-blind, down the stairs to her apartment, and takes out her JLU comm link. For the past 12 hours, Bruce’s voice has been nothing but tinny noise in her ear. She can barely stay awake long enough to get her costume off. She crash lands on the bed with the curtains wide open.

She wakes up a full 21 hours later to the shrill ring of her cell phone. She fumbles for it blindly, groping over the nightstand until she snags it and drags it to her ear by the charging cord.

“Hello?” she murmurs, but her voice has gone out, and her mouth is mostly full of drool and pillow. She clears her throat forcefully. “Hello?” she repeats.

“Marry me,” Lex says, in that slightly raspy voice she has right after she wakes up.

Clara groans softly and rolls over. She rubs the sleep from her eyes and squints out the window. The sun is rising slow over the outstretched fingers of the Metropolis skyline, making the whole city glow gold and pink. She checks her phone to make sure it’s Saturday.

“It’s six am,” she says.

“It is,” Lex says. “Marry me.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

“Lex…” Clara barely restrains a yawn. She’s still exhausted. There’s dirt under her fingernails. “You know we live in Kansas, right? Like… that’s still a thing, right? I didn’t…go to sleep and wake up on an alternate Earth where this isn’t Kansas, did I?”

“It’s legal in Kansas.”

“It’s legal in Metropolis County,” Clara corrects, feeling more tired by the second. “Technically.”

“No,” Lex says, and Clara doesn’t have to see her, she can  _hear_  her grinning. “It’s legal in Kansas. All of Kansas. Federally.”

Clara opens her eyes, stares at her ceiling for six seconds, and then sits bolt upright. Her curls tumble over her face and she shoves them back.

“Marriage equality passed,” she says, dumbly.

“Yes,” Lex says, smugly.

“You didn’t wake me up to tell me marriage equality passed?”

“You were tired. I got the pictures back from Kasnia.”

Isn’t  _that_  a sobering thought. “Yeah.”

“So I waited,” Lex says. “Which is fine, I needed a few hours to set everything up, anyway.”

“Set  _what_  up?”

“Marry me,” Lex says, full of delight. 

Clara feels apprehension twisting through her. “Lex, even you can’t set up a wedding in less than a day.”

“Clara,” Lex purrs. “You vastly underestimate me.”

“Are you under the impression that the only reason I wouldn’t marry you before is because it wasn’t legal in Kansas?”

“No,” Lex says. “But it  _is_  legal in Kansas.”

Clara’s up and pacing before the realizes she’s up and pacing. She needs a shower – she still smells like death and dirt and burnt metal. 

“Everybody you marry tries to murder you.”

“You’re ahead of the curve, I admit.”

“I’d have to move in. Tell my parents.”

“Your parents already know, and you’ve already moved most of your things in. After your wardrobe, your toiletries, your microwave, your television, your Pulitzer, and your  _dog_ , I’m pretty sure the only thing you  _haven’t_  relocated is  _you_.”

“My landlady doesn’t like pets! You know that.”

“I  _do_  know that. You know why I know that? For the same reason I now know how to get Kryptonian dog urine out of a six thousand dollar suit.”

“I said I was sorry about that.”

“You did,” Lex says, “and yet I remain unconvinced.”

Clara rakes her hands back through her hair again. “We’d have to…book a chapel.”

“Done.”

“And find a priest.”

“Done.”

“And buy a cake.”

“Also done.”

“And get…I don’t know, dresses and…suits? I don’t know.”

“Done, and done.”

“We’d have to invite everyone! Lois would have to get… God, I’d have to tell Lois. And ask her to be my Best Lady, and–”

“Why do you assume  _you’ll_  be the groom?”

Clara blushes, deeply. “I don’t know. I’d be more comfortable in a suit, I guess.”

Lex sighs. “Fine. I’ll allow it, for the ceremony.”

“The  _ceremony_?”

“Yes, but we’re switching for the reception. I bought a Vera Wang gown I need to see you in.”

“It’s not going to fit!” Clara protests.

“As if I don’t know your measurements better than anyone on Earth,” Lex scoffs.

“You can’t ask me over the phone!” Clara says, more sharply than she means to.

There’s silence on the line for a second, and she wonders if she’s finally shocked Lex back into reality. But then, Lex speaks again, softer and more earnest: 

“Would you say ‘yes’ if I asked you in person?”

Clara stops pacing, hand in her hair. She looks at her room; at her costume on the floor, and her life in complete disarray. She pulls the phone away from her ear and stares at the display. It’s 6:13am, Saturday, June 27th. Lex’s name is sitting expectantly on her screen, gray and featureless, and for a moment, Clara can’t resist the temptation; she turns her head and uses her x-ray vision to gaze across the city to LexCorp Tower West. 

Lex is in the penthouse, the Virtues scurrying around her, and she wasn’t kidding – the wedding preparations are going in full force all around her. Clara doesn’t think she’s ever seen so much pearly white ribbon in her life. Mercy’s shouting orders; Hope and Temperance are on the phone, each going down a long list of names; Independence and Honor are organizing decorations in the living room; Noble is speaking with a seamstress near the door; Peace is helping with table settings and flower arrangements in the kitchen, Krypto lounging at her feet, tail thumping the floor; Patience, flanked by Verity and Charity, is leading what appears to be a briefing of private security officers; Chastity is laying out lingerie options on the bed; Justice is standing by with a small team of makeup artists, watching Lex expectantly. 

And in the midst of all the chaos, Lex is standing very still, not paying attention to any of it. She stands with one hand in the pocket of her pajama pants, the phone pressed to her ear. 

Clara puts her ear to the speaker again.

“We have to be in private,” she says. “And you have to let me call Lois, first.”

“Done,” Lex says, and Clara sees her smile, slow and a little reluctant, like she doesn’t mean to. “I called Perry. She has the day off. Not that she knows why.”

“Oh, she’ll love that,” Clara says, dryly. And then: “You really already invited everyone?”

“All 200 of our closest friends.” Lex sighs, and tips her head a little. Clara should stop watching her, but she doesn’t want to. “Bruce’ll be here any minute. My Batmaid of Honor.”

“She agreed to that?”

“Not enthusiastically. But you have to admit, it’s a pretty once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bug the penthouse.”

“Like she hasn’t already.”

Lex smirks a little wider, and Clara wants to be there. Wants to kiss her. “Take a look around. See if I’m wrong.”

“Bad luck for me to see my bride on her wedding day.”

“Oh, please,” Lex says, and it’s a full grin now, all sharp teeth and thick lips, and Clara really,  _really_  wants to kiss her. “Like you’re not looking.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“I’m  _not_!”

“It’s  _fine_ ,” Lex says, and Clara watches her wave Justice away and turn towards the panoramic windows. “You had to know if I was being facetious or not. I understand. Try to resist the urge to call me your  _bride_  again, though, if you would.”

“Aren’t you trying to be?”

“A woman can only take so much, Clara.”

“Did you get the rings already?”

“No,” Lex says, which is definitely a lie, Clara can tell by the way she tips her head to the side and leans into one hip. But she loves her for lying. She loves her for being able to do it so casually, like she knows she wasn’t supposed to buy the rings already, but she couldn’t help herself. She knows the right answer, even if it’s not the truth. “I thought you’d like the opportunity to do at least part of this as a…” Lex’s tongue snags, like she’s looking for the right word.

“A couple?” Clara asks, flatly.

“A  _team_ ,” Lex says, with just enough conviction to be exhilarating. Clara swallows, thickly, and pushes her hand back through her hair.

“Yeah,” she says.

“Yeah?” Lex smiles, and it would take so little effort, Clara thinks. Just a blink and she could be across the city. Lex wouldn’t even have time to hang up.

“Yeah,” she says, instead.

“Good,” says Lex. “The suit is on your doorstep. Call Lois, and meet me at St. Mary’s in three hours. I need to ask you something.”

“Lex, St. Mary’s is in Smallville.”

“I know. Your parents were very insistent.”

“You really did talk to my parents.”

“I really did.”

“Lex,” Clara says, trying not to grin as she pulls open her front door and scoops the box off the stoop. “Marry me.”


End file.
